A Dual-Mode Flapping-Wing Robot Capable of Water-Surface Sliding and Take-Off

Multiple-mode motions enhance the flexibility, adaptability and motion efficiency for water-surface robots in complex water environments. Owing to the unstructured and perturbable properties of water, the task of water-surface takeoff remains profoundly challenging. Furthermore, at the micro-scale, there persists a notable scarcity of a rapid, stable, and lightweight attitude adjustment mechanism. So it is challenging for robots to achieve water-surface sliding and take-off dual-mode motion. To handle this problem, this paper optimizes the shape of the support feet to significantly reduce the drag force during takeoff, and designs a rapid, stable, and lightweight attitude adjustment mechanism based on a linear servo with a self-locking function. On this basis, a flapping-wing robot capable of continuous water-surface sliding and take-off is designed. Experiment shows that continuous water-surface sliding and takeoff motion is achieved, with a motion mode switching time of 0.03 s.